lean timms

p h o t o g r a p h y w o r k s h o p

c o u n t r y v i c t o r i a

a u s t r a l i a

5 t h / 6 t h m a r c h 2 0 2 5

TWO DAY PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

BABBINGTON PARK, VICTORIA

EDIT: SOLD OUT
Wow, that was fast! Please email Lean if you’d like to go on the waiting list for the next workshop in May.

WORKSHOP DETAILS:

Workshop Dates: Wednesday 5th March and Thursday 6th March, 2025

Two Day Workshop Tickets: $2800 + GST.
Please note you can choose to pay in two instalments if you wish - half when you book and the final half a week before the workshop, due Wednesday 26th February.

Workshop Location: Babbington Park, Lyonville, Victoria, dja dja wurrung country.

Workshop Time: 8:30am - 6:00 pm both days.

Guest Teacher: Stephanie Stematis AKA Stephanie Somebody - Art Director, Set Designer, Stylist.

Workshop Chef: Annie Smithers

Suitable For: This workshop is formatted for all photography lovers and levels - including small business owners keen to up skill and create their own content, absolute beginners ready to dive in and learn a new art form, photography lovers wanting to step up and improve on their skills, those wanting to become professional photographers, and fellow photography professionals already in the field who are interested in furthering their industry insight, networking opportunities and creative nourishment. As a teacher it's my absolute priority to provide value for everyone, at all photography levels.

Catering: Delicious morning tea, lunch and Champagne apéro will be prepared for us both days by one of Australia’s most highly regarded chefs, Annie Smithers. On day one we will be treated to a French farmhouse lunch by Annie at her home, Babbington Park, and on day two, we will be indulging at du Fermier, Annie’s famed restaurant in Trentham.

Please Note: Airfares, transportation to and from the workshop and accommodation are not included. We are very happy to help with accommodation suggestions!

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:

Join me in picturesque country Victoria for an immersive and fun two days of learning, as I openly share everything I know about the art of photography with you. This two day photography workshop will be absolutely packed to the brim with educational, creative, inspiring and insightful content. It's the perfect opportunity to launch into the world of photography, or to give your current photography skills a confidence boost, some guided direction, or some delicious nourishment. As a small group we will explore the art of visual storytelling by embracing light, creative composition and working through your own photography style. We will focus in on the subjects of food, travel and lifestyle photography. We will explore our cameras manual settings and together work through the skills and secrets of editing/post processing. We will lift the curtain and have candid chats about industry insight and thriving in a creative business. I will share the ins and out of my own personal photography style and process, but most importantly will be there to help guide yours. The workshop will be part theory and part practical, to cover all learning styles, and with plenty of time to play and photograph our two days together.

Our very special guest teacher, Stephanie Stematis, AKA Stephanie Somebody, will be gracing us for an inspiring styling session that will give a direct and unique window into her esteemed professional creative world. Stephanie will create her signature mesmerising still life food scenes for us which we will then be able to photograph together. This will be an incredibly rare opportunity - I’m very excited for you to experience this!

Over the two days we will be spoiled by the one and only Chef Annie Smithers and her exceptional hospitality, with a seasonal menu created for us each day with produce harvested directly from the Babbington Park farm and gardens. On day one we will enjoy a farmhouse lunch cooked by Annie on the grounds of Babbington Park, and on day two we will head into Trentham for a very special lunch at Annie’s restaurant, du Fermier. Only the best will do for you.

Throughout the workshop we will have access to explore and photograph the beautiful grounds and animal friends of Babbington Park.

After two days together, you will go home with an abundance of photography knowledge, the ability to shoot your camera on manual settings, the confidence to approach and capture a scene using natural light, inspiration to photograph, curate and share your own stories through imagery, a new group of creative friends and an experience so special you won’t ever forget it. Two full days means so much to cover! I can’t wait to share everything I know and love about photography with you!

Photo 1 by Jane McCormack, Photo 4 by Belinda Monck, Photo 7 by Sabine Bannard

TOPICS WE WILL BE COVERING:

Natural light digital photography 101
We’ll dig into photography and camera basics, and why it’s important that you understand and use them. You’ll walk away with a thorough understanding of the (magical!) exposure triangle and be able to use your camera’s manual settings - including a suggestion of my favourite go to’s - to help you confidently capture a number of different subjects and styles. For the professionals, I will provide lots of juicy layers here, and will share my own personal professional tips and go to settings.

Light
Nothing gets me more excited than reading and embracing natural light. I’m excited by the early autumn March light we’ll experience together at Annie and Susan’s farm. We’ll explore light direction first, it’ll blow your mind. We’ll find light and shadow and all the ways they can both make a photograph sing. We’ll work with harsh light and soft light and learn how to manipulate the outcome of both. We’ll follow it around inside, and go hunting for it outside. I’ll share with you all my tips on light and bright photography along with the contrasting moody chiaroscuro style.

Composition
The way a photograph is framed can completely shift the way a subject is viewed. It’s a really fun game. We will play with lots of different perspectives, angles, and formulas and I’ll give you plenty of helpful guidance to develop your own composition style, too.

Storytelling
No matter the subject, a story is always worth being told. We could spend the whole two days on storytelling alone. I have a special formula, you’ll love it. I can’t wait to dig into this with you.

Food Photography
With incredible chef Annie Smithers on board throughout the workshop, we will not only have gorgeous plated food to photograph, but we will also be able to photograph the story of the late summer/early autumn produce growing in Annie and Susan’s kitchen garden. I will share with you all my food photography tips and tricks, playing with backgrounds, movement, and light in a series of both styled scenes and natural lifestyle scenes to capture a delicious food story with you.

Food and Still Life Styling
Stephanie Stamatis will guide and inspire us with her still life and food styling process, creating beautiful styled scenes for us to photograph and for you to add to your own photography portfolio.

Travel/Location Photography
This one makes my heart sing. It’s really all about sharing a genuine sense of place and we will get to do this together by shooting our own personal travel ‘assignment’ photographing the Babbington Park grounds and our excursion to Du Fermier in Trentham. We will have endless stories to tell from the veggie and flower gardens, the lake, and the friendly farm animals, to the quaint village and delicious restaurant experience in Trentham - and all during a really abundant, beautiful time of year.

Post Production/Editing
I will step you through my editing flow, both on Lightroom and phone. We will cover basics, explore your style, exporting tricks, and develop your own preset.

Industry Chat
Let’s chat openly - the best type of industry chat. Marketing, pricing (actual numbers!), getting published, pitching, image licensing, editorial insights, creative inspiration etc, etc. This part is always juicy, insightful, and fun. Anything and everything is on the table.

Q&A’s
I want to answer any and all of your questions. We will have plenty of time for questions throughout the workshop, and special allocated time toward the end of our second day. I am an open book and want you to go home with loads of information and value no matter what your level in photography - so please bring your questions and we can chat through them as a creative group together.

ABOUT LEAN:

Lean Timms is an international travel, lifestyle and food photographer working across editorial, commercial and publishing fields. Lean is currently based on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country, Canberra Australia.

Forever exploring and full of curiosity for this world, Lean’s greatest love is to discover and document inspiring places and stories. Lean’s approach to photography is driven by natural light, in situ spontaneity, storytelling and capturing a genuine sense of place. 

A once upon a time creative arts high school teacher, Lean loves to teach and share, and has been lucky enough to teach photography at workshops and retreats all around the world.

Select Photography Clients and Publications:

Tourism Australia
Condé Nast Traveller
QANTAS Travel Insider
Australian Traveller
Vogue Living
Lonely Planet

Photo 2 of Lean by Doreen Kilfeather, photo 3 of Lean by Zoe Helene

ABOUT OUR GUEST TEACHER - STEPHANIE STAMATIS

Stephanie Stamatis is an Artist exploring the intersection of food and still life through art direction, set design, photography and immersive experiences. Beginning her design journey as an interior designer, Stephanie's search for beauty has led her to a more personal form of storytelling through photography. Drawing inspiration from nostalgia, Stephanie lends her signature aesthetic and love of objet and food to editorial and commercial clients - unfurling the medium to a reverence of the daily, poetic and surreal.

Stephanie has been published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Australian Financial Review. Her clients include, Flamingo Estate, Lee Mathews, Country Road, Mecca, The Calile Hotel, Kinfolk, Myer, Hardie Grant Books, Samsonite, Summer Fridays, Le Labo, Food & Wine.

In October 2019 Stephanie was the Artist in Residence at Numeroventi, Firenze. In 2025 Stephanie will be releasing a photo book published by Pomegranate Press.

Instagram: @stephanie_somebody

Photo of Stephanie by Daniel Grima

ABOUT OUR LOCATION - BABBINGTON PARK

Babbington Park has been used as a small scale organic farm for over 150 years. The original property was sub divided in the early 2000’s and Annie Smithers and Susan Thompson are the custodians of a 23 acre piece. This piece of the farm houses the original farm buildings and the scenic spring fed lake at the bottom of the hill. Over two acres is given over to the growing of fruit and vegetables, the produce from which supplies both the needs of Babbington Park events and Annie’s restaurant in nearby Trentham, du Fermier. As well as their sustenance crops, the farm also allows the growing of abundant blooms that are used to decorate both the Chapel and du Fermier. The growing of all the produce is supported by the closed loop practices of housing animals and poultry. Scraps from the garden and natural pastures feed the cows, goats and sheep, chickens, geese and ducks, in turn their bedding is used in the compost to allow the garden to be constantly replenished with nutrients with minimal working of the soil and no artificial additives.

The Chapel, where we will set up workshop camp, is a light and airy space with views down across paddocks to a large lake. A place to watch the geese wander about, a lazy cat perch on a stone wall, or an inquisitive goat poke a head over a fence. An ideal nest for our two day photography workshop on the farm.

ABOUT OUR RESTAURANT EXCURSION - DU FERMIER

On our second day, we will venture out for lunch to Annie Smithers restaurant du Fermier in the small village of Trentham. Eating at du Fermier is a little like eating at someone’s home. Sometimes, the dishes are plated, sometimes shared, and always, they revolve around what is being harvested from the garden or taken from the store cupboard. The food is based on classic French farmhouse dishes that are to be enjoyed with friends and family - or in our case, with our wonderful workshop group.

ABOUT OUR HOSPITALITY - CHEF ANNIE SMITHERS

Annie Smithers is one of Australia’s most highly regarded chefs and one of the first chefs to truly epitomise the paddock to plate ethos. With a career spanning well over 30 years, Annie has spent the last quarter of a century in the wonderful Macedon Ranges and Hepburn Spa region of Victoria.

Her restaurant du Fermier in the small village of Trentham, is a tiny establishment. Annie does all the cooking, starting with baking her own baguettes each morning and offers a menu du jour that features vegetables picked that day from her kitchen garden and meats and poultry from the surrounding area. She carefully sources all products to ensure their environmental and animal husbandry credentials.

Annie lives on a small farm in Lyonville - Babbington Park - only ten minutes from Trentham, where her kitchen garden and orchard are planted and producing a bounty of produce for the restaurant.

PAST WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT TESTIMONIALS:

- Lean's workshop truly exceeded my expectations. Lean is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate, providing personalized feedback and guidance throughout the course. Set in a stunning location, the workshop offered a perfect blend of theory and hands-on practice, covering everything from shooting in manual mode to composition, storytelling and editing techniques. The small group size fostered a supportive atmosphere and each day was well-structured. Stepping into this experience as a beginner, I left with a newfound confidence. I highly recommend this workshop to photographers of all levels. It's an investment but it’s worth it and is an experience not to be missed. Thank you Lean for sharing your knowledge, creativity and patience. - Chelsea Furtardo @__smell.the.roses__

- This course was an indulgent luxury for me, and a significant investment in my current chapter of life. Lean was cognisant of this, creating an experience that felt generous, whilst still understanding her own worth. Perhaps that is just a complicated way of saying I felt like it was good value for money! Lean seamlessly navigated a class of beginners and seasoned professionals - not an easy task by any stretch. Lean’s teaching is gentle and encouraging and she managed to guide without prescribing. The content was comprehensive and informative - I thought the breadth of content was great. But most of all Lean presented in a way that was vibrant and full of humour, which is obviously just a reflection on Lean as an individual - it is invigorating to be around passion, so thank you Lean for sharing this - Hannah Lewis @penguinpantry

- What can I say other than wow! I didn't really know what to expect before embarking in this course, but Leans x2 day photography workshop absolutely blew my sock off. Lean is such an incredible teacher, no stone was left unturned, and the beautiful work book we got to keep has been a really lovely reference to return too. Lean was able to teach a broad range of students with different backgrounds and photography knowledge and keep everyone highly engaged. I honestly couldn't recommend this course more highly. I have walked away far more confident behind my lens and it was simply the best weekend with like minded creatives. If you get the opportunity to do this course, just book the ticket. you won't be disappointed. Sarah Miles @sarahmiles.studio

- I am delighted to have had the opportunity to attend Leans fabulous workshop. As a complete novice I learnt so much from a very talented, generous, fun and inspirational photographer/teacher. Connected with a group of delightful and interesting women, who have created a network so we can continue to learn and grow together. Enjoyed great food in fab restaurants and spent time in the natural environment - what’s not to love!! I had a great time and still on a high! Thanks Lean! Alison Revell

-This workshop was everything I needed and so much more! Lean was such an incredible teacher catering for all levels of photography and bringing such a wonderful group of people together! I walked away from the workshop feeling inspired, supported and with so much more knowledge. I also left with a new community which feels like family and I’m so grateful for it! After the two days I didn’t want to leave! - Kelsey Zafiridis @kelseyzafiridis.photography

Are you keen but not quite sure yet? Do you have some questions for me? Please send me an email and I would love to chat more with you!

CANCELLATION POLICY:

Please kindly note that this is a strictly non-refundable workshop. However we do understand that things change and life happens, so should you need to reschedule we are more than happy to rebook you to another workshop at another time. Valid travel insurance is also encouraged for your trip. Thank you for understanding.

It would be a joy to learn, create and connect with you in Victoria this March. I hope so much to see you at the workshop!

Lean. X